1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to inverters and, more particularly, to an apparatus for coupling an inverter to a photovoltaic module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solar panels have historically been deployed in mostly remote applications, such as remote cabins in the wilderness or satellites, where commercial power was not available. Due to the high cost of installation, solar panels were not an economical choice for generating power unless no other power options were available. However, the worldwide growth of energy demand is leading to a durable increase in energy cost. In addition, it is now well established that the fossil energy reserves currently being used to generate electricity are rapidly being depleted. These growing impediments to conventional commercial power generation make solar panels a more attractive option to pursue.
Solar panels, or photovoltaic (PV) modules, convert energy from sunlight received into direct current (DC). The PV modules cannot store the electrical energy they produce, so the energy must either be dispersed to an energy storage system, such as a battery or pumped hydroelectricity storage, or dispersed by a load, for example by providing alternating current (AC) to business or residential buildings or coupling AC power to a commercial power grid. In some solar power systems that provide AC power, PV modules may be coupled to inverters that invert the DC current to AC current in a distributed architecture; i.e., one inverter per PV module. For such solar power systems, installation generally involves mechanically attaching the inverters to a rigid mounting rail, coupling each inverter to an individual PV module, and mechanically attaching the PV modules to the mounting rail. This installation process is complex as well as labor and time intensive.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an apparatus to efficiently couple an inverter to a PV module.